Star Trek: NemesisReleased: December 13, 2002

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STAR TREK: NEMESIS - film reviewBy Mark Geraghty

In 2002, Paramount Pictures released the fourth film to feature the crew from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. The previous STAR TREK film – INSURRECTION – had been released 4 years prior and made $112 million at the box office on a reported budget of $58 million. The problem was that the film prior to that one – FIRST CONTACT – had made $146 million 2 years prior in 1996. The relative under-performance of INSURRECTION resulted in a lengthy delay before Paramount Pictures green-lit a fourth NEXT GENERATION film which was being openly discussed as the ‘final journey’ for the crew led by Patrick Stewart as Captain Jen-Luc Picard.

The film’s budget was set at $60 million, so in real-terms Paramount were allocating less to NEMESIS than what they had to INSURRECTION when inflation over 4 years was taken into account. The film’s screenplay was based on two story ideas; one from Rick Berman and one from Brent Spiner. John Logan, the accomplished playwright and screenwriter, was brought in to break the story and write the screenplay. On paper, the combination for a strong story looked good. Two of THE NEXT GENERATION’s senior people were pairing with an Academy Award nominated screenwriter to bring create a story that was, more-than-likely, going to be the final movie for an ensemble that had worked together for 15years!

NEMESIS opens on the Romulan home world of Romulus. The Romulan senate is vigorously debating a trade agreement but, when the vote is called for, a green light emits from a small silver box engulfing the whole senate chamber. Realising something untoward, Praetor Hiren calls for security but before he can move any further his body turns to ash, as do the rest of the Senate. The Senate is no more, the victim of a wide-scale plot to overthrow the rulers of the Romulan Star Empire.

The story cuts to Earth; specifically, to the wedding of the newly-appointed Captain Wil Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes, and Counsellor Deanna Troi, played by Marina Sirtis. Captain Picard toasts his fellow officers, who are transferring to a new ship and wishes them well in the life as a married couple. This scene was clearly intended as a valedictory as it is the last time the entire crew are together in one place at one time. There’s even a brief appearance by Whoopi Goldberg’s character Guinan and a short glimpse of Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher. This scene, and a number that follow back on board the Enterprise, are designed to emphasize that the ‘family’ is changing, with a number of the main characters moving on to other duties. It also allows for Picard’s character to reflect on who he is and what he has accomplished in his life. His conversation with Brent Spiner’s Data back on the ship after the wedding ceremony highlights all the parts of his life that will be challenged as the Enterprise is ordered to Romulan space for a meeting with the new Praetor – Shinzon.

Guests at the wedding of Counsellor Troi and Commander Riker (soon-to-be Captain Riker) are addressed by Captain Picard. Deleted sections of this segment also included Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher.

Matters take a puzzling turn when, en route to Troi’s home planet of Betazed to complete the wedding ceremonies, a positronic signature is detected from the planet Kolaris III. Data is the only functioning android with a positronic signature, so the crew are intrigued as to what or who could be generating it. Picard decides that he should lead the Away Team, taking Data and Michael Dorn’s Klingon Head of Security Worf with him. This leads to the first big action sequence of the film. The three characters discover that the positronic readings are coming from multiple locations and are surprised to find that it is another version of Data’s creator’s androids, which looks identical to Data!

Before they can learn more, the group are attacked by aliens. Picard decides it’s time to test out the new all-terrain vehicle they’ve been riding around in. The aliens pursue at high speed, but are out-witted by Data, who remotely positions their shuttle so that Picard can drive straight into the cargo bay. Only one challenge remains – the drop between the edge of the cliff and the opening to the cargo bay. In a breath-taking leap, Picard guns the all-terrain vehicle, launches it off the side of the cliff and comes screeching to a halt in the cargo safety nets of the shuttle bay. While this set-piece is relatively exciting, it does feel as though this ‘dune buggy on steroids’ sequence is servicing the ‘Boy Racer’ in Patrick Stewart, who seems to take a little bit too much delight in putting the all-terrain vehicle through its paces.

Back aboard the Enterprise LeVar Burton’s Geordi LaForge and Gates McFadden’s Dr.Crusher are helping Data to put the pieces of the Soong-type android back together. Once complete, the android informs them that his name is B-4. This is where Nemesis started to drag. Over the years, Brent Spiner has had his fair share of stories and the Data-arc has been well explored. Each of the three preceding Next Generation films dedicated a fair amount of screen time to the struggles he experienced dealing with the activation of his emotion chip. His phaser-induced malfunction in Insurrection served as the starting point for that film, so to have yet another Data-arc in Nemesis seemed like a case of same-old, same-old. The B-4 character is especially irritating, as it’s a devolved version of Data and seems to have been programmed as some sort of dim-witted Forrest Gump android rip-off.

The film gets back on track when Picard receives a message from the newly-promoted Admiral Janeway. Kate Mulgrew was good enough to do the cameo, but it’s so short that it could have been anyone talking back to Picard on the viewscreen he uses to interact with her. Janeway tells Picard that Shinzon is the new Praetor of the Romulan Star Empire and she wants the Enterprise to act as an envoy on behalf of the Federation. En route, the crew use all their available intelligence to figure out how Shinzon has come to power. Data and Geordi also take the opportunity to download Data’s memories into B-4 to determine whether the android is capable of the same high-level functions as Data. This becomes an important set-up for later in the film.

Upon arriving at Romulus, the Enterprise is met by Shinzon’s Warbird the Scimitar. The crew’s first contact is with Shinzon’s Viceroy played by genre-favourite Ron Perlman. The Viceroy sends coordinates for the crew to beam to aboard the Scimitar. Picard, Riker, Data, Troi & Worf beam over to meet the new Preator and are shocked to discover that he is human. The shocks continue as he proposes a new era of peace between the Federation & Romulans and then, upon raising the room’s light level, reveals himself to appear as though he is a younger version of Captain Picard. Tom Hardy does a great job in this scene between him and Patrick Stewart. It’s not easy to keep up with Sir Patrick, especially in a scene that is very much like a theatre production where the focus is all on the actor, but Hardy has no problem is giving Shinzon a combination of boyish enthusiasm with an edge of unspoken evil.

The next evening Picard dines with Shinzon. It seems that, while reserving his trust, Picard is impressed with Shinzon enough to entertain his desire to find out more about his “clone” and his past. After dinner, there is a hint of a greater plan in play as the Viceroy tells Shinzon that it was a mistake to meet with Picard and that they must focus on their mission. Meanwhile, aboard the Enterprise, the Captain is notified about an unauthorised access into the main computer and that Shinzon’s ship emitted a deadly form of radiation called Thalaron when it decloaked. Back in his Ready Room, Picard discusses his situation with Dr.Crusher expressing some doubt about whether he is as good a man as she believes him to be. The discussion in interrupted by Data on the comm badge. He asks the Captain to join him and Geordi, as they have found the source of the unauthorised computer breach and believe it may give them a tactical advantage.

On the Scimitar, it is clear that Shinzon’s health is deteriorating. He has twice tried to telepathically force his will on Troi but is becoming weaker each time he tries. Before he can try again, one of his officers notifies him that they have received a transponder signal. Shinzon tells his Viceroy to prepare the doctors as he makes his way to the bridge. Upon arriving, Shinzon commands one of his engineers to transport and B-4 materialise in front of them.

No sooner has B-4 been transported to the Scimitar than Picard is also beamed over against his will. Shinzon’s plan is beginning to reveal itself. Shinzon confronts Picard in the ship’s Brig, revealing his plan to use his Reman warriors in a war against the Federation. Later, B-4 appears and takes Picard from his holding cell, telling the guards that Shinzon has commanded the Captain’s presence on the bridge.

As the pair makes their way to the ship’s bridge, B-4 is revealed to be Data, who has taken the other android’s place to help get a tactical advantage over Shinzon. The ruse is discovered by Shinzon and his Viceroy, forcing Picard and Data to blast their way to safety. They find themselves in the Scimitar’s shuttle bay and escape in one of the Reman’s attack fighters. This is one of the film’s big set action pieces and it works well on its own, but within the context of the film it’s problematic. The main issue with this sequence is that it’s almost superfluous in terms of the story. Data beaming over pretending to be B-4 serves little purpose, as he and Geordi have already worked out what Shinzon is doing. Abducting Picard serves little purpose, other than to take a blood sample. Based on the mutual admiration Picard and Shinzon had been affording each other to this point in the film, Picard would probably have volunteered the sample to help his ailing clone. The other unfortunate part of this sequence is what comes immediately after it. Two-thirds of the way through the film, it’s normal to expect the action to be maintained all the way through to the film’s conclusion. Not so with NEMESIS. With Picard and Data are back on board, the film drops back a couple of gears. As much as what people enjoyed watching THE NEXT GENERATION and its standard master shot, close up A and close up B; the next five minutes are spent restating story points that were already clearly established for the audience. Shinzon hates the Federation, B-4 is dangerous, the Romulans doubt their allegiance with Shinzon – all of these had been dealt with and didn’t need further exposition.

NEMESIS finally kicks into high gear when the Enterprise, racing to meet reinforcements, comes under attack from the Scimitar. Unfortunately, there’s another lapse into an extended dialogue between Picard and Shinzon, once again, covering ground that was covered earlier in the film. It’s not until the Romulans arrive to assist the Enterprise that there is a sustained sequence of action comparable to the earlier set pieces. The action cuts between the various ship bridges and the visual effects as the Enterprise, the Scimitar and the two Romulan Warbirds fire on each other. The Scimitar is quick to dispense with both Romulan Warbirds, but it buys enough time for the Enterprise crew to come up with a different plan of attack. Despite being psychologically abused by Shinzon and his Viceroy earlier in the story, Deanna offers her psychic abilities to re-establish her connection with the Praetor. She uses the connection to force him to lower the Scimitar’s cloak and give the Enterprise a fighting chance of victory.

In a repeat of the Borg hand-to-hand battle from FIRST CONTACT, the production's budget limitations become apparent as the viewer, once again, gets a full tour of the ship's corridors.

Shinzon is outraged by this turn of events, as the Enterprise finally lands a metaphorical punch on its vastly superior opponent. Upon recovering control of his senses, the Viceroy takes a group Reman soldiers and boards the Enterprise in search of Picard. Riker and Worf lead a team to intercept the Viceroy resulting in a running battle throughout the lower decks of the Enterprise. Meanwhile, the Scimitar has regained its cloak, but Shinzon can’t help but make one last grand gesture to show how much better he is than Picard. He brings his ship directly into the path of the Enterprise. The move is not lost on Picard who grimly declares that Shinzon “wants to look me in the eye”. Racing, Picard realises that the opportunity to defeat Shinzon is at hand and he orders the Enterprise to ram directly into the Scimitar with every available ounce of power available to the ship. The result is one of utter devastation for both ships.

Even with an action as devastating as ramming the Scimitar, the film still fails to hit the mark in terms of all-out action. As much time is taken in the lead-up to the scene as is spent showing the actual collision between the two vessels. The editing for this sequence doesn’t reflect the extent of the damage done to either ship, as the edits are a little too fast. It almost feels like the coverage of interior reaction shots on both the Enterprise and the Scimitar sets were limited because of budget constraints, so Dallas Puett, the film’s Editor, was left to use a lot of fast close-up shots to lengthen the scene. Unfortunately, the scene isn’t helped by the slow-moving effects work. Digital Domain, who did all the film’s effects job, does a good job with showing the collision, but it’s shown almost in slow motion. There’s no sense of speed or danger.

Elsewhere on the Enterprise, Riker has finally cornered the Viceroy and he has him trapped in a Jeffries tube. As the Enterprise slams in the Scimitar, the Viceroy loses his grip and grabs on to Riker in a last ditch effort to save himself. Unable to hold his grip on Riker, the Viceroy plunges to his death. Given everything that the Viceroy and Shinzon have done to his wife, Riker seems more than a little satisfied about the Reman’s death.

The damage to the Scimitar has been enough to disable most of the key systems on the ship including the phasers and photon torpedoes. Shinzon, realises that his degeneration has progressed too far to be saved and decides to use the thalaron weapon to destroy the Enterprise and, in doing so, destroying the Scimitar and its crew. The Enterprise detects the cascading pulse of the weapon and Picard makes the decision to beam himself on to the Scimitar’s bridge to stop Shinzon from unleashing the killer force.

Aboard the Scimitar, Picard makes his way to the bridge; meanwhile, back on the Enterprise, Data decides to help Picard by undertaking a dangerous space jump between the two wrecked ships. On the Scimitar bridge, Picard exchanges phaser fire with Shinzon and his remaining crewmen. The battle resorts to hand-to-hand combat and Picard deals a mortal blow to Shinzon by impaling him on a piece of wreckage from the battle. Shinzon however uses the last of his strength to pin Picard, so he is unable to deactivate the thalaron weapon. Data’s space jump has been successful and he arrives with a few moments to spare, slapping an emergency transporter device on Picard and beaming him back to the safety of the Enterprise. Data turns and fires directly into the Scimitar’s warp core relays to prevent the thalaron device from detonating. Instead, the ship begins to explode from the inside starting with bridge and, in the process, disintegrating Data forever!

Back aboard the Enterprise, Picard is safe, but the crew realise it has come at great cost. Data is gone.

Sometime later, back in space dock, the Enterprise is being refitted. The majority of the damage done in the battle with the Scimitar has now been repaired. Many of the senior crew have either said, or are in the middle of saying, their goodbyes. Riker and Troi, now husband & wife, have taken up their post aboard Riker’s command, the USS Titan. In his Ready Room, Picard is speaking to someone, explaining that even though Data wasn’t human, he embodied the best characteristics of humanity. The Captain is talking with B-9, who Picard has had reactivated. As their discussion finishes, Picard rises and heads for the Bridge, but, as he does, he hears B-9 starting to sing ‘Blue Skies’; the song Data sang at Riker and Troi’s wedding. While the song’s significance is lost on B-9’ it is not lost on Picard. He may not be among them anymore, but Data will always be a part of the crew of the USS Enterprise.

NEMESIS is by no means a bad film. There have been far worse made. The difficulty for the film came about in much the same way it had for the Original Series films. The actors playing the crew had become more popular over time and, as a result, they were having more say in the development of the film’s stories. This was especially the case with both INSURRECTION and NEMESIS. The outcome, in the case of NEMESIS, is a film that is far too focussed on Picard and Data. Audiences, even STAR TREK fans, are not going to pay money to see a film that is a character-piece about a starship Captain from the future and his android side-kick! Given that it was an unspoken truth that NEMESIS was to be the last film, it would have been appropriate to have other principal cast members play a more central role in resolving the story's MacGuffin. It was not to be.

The box office result for the film was a disaster. On its $60 million budget, Nemesis has a worldwide box office gross of just $67 million. On the US domestic front, it is the worst performing Star Trek film with just $43 million in box office receipts. A lot of the blame for the poor performance of NEMESIS has been levelled at Stuart Baird, the film’s director. Many of the cast members, including Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis & LeVar Burton, have been critical of Baird’s lack of knowledge about STAR TREK and the history of the franchise. As the film’s director, Baird must accept some responsibility for the final product, however, the film’s problems start with the film’s story and screenplay. Far too much of it spent servicing Picard and Data with exposition about their respective situations. The result is a film that services the desires of a section of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION fans, but lacks the storytelling power to transcend the film’s television roots and provide a great piece of big-screen entertainment for mainstream viewers.